Redrawing Foucault’S Social Ontology

Abstract:     
I propose that Foucault‟s works, since he wrote Discipline and Punish, rely on an implicit meta-theory that is compatible with the fundamentals of Critical Realism. To this end I examine the status of truth, methodology and social ontology used by Foucault. If this thesis is correct, then a critical realist reading of Michel Foucault would avoid some of the pitfalls that have been attributed to his works - such as constructivism, determinism, localism, and reductionism. Moreover, this understanding of Foucault‟s works would also offer novel and challenging perspectives for researchers adopting a Foucauldian and/or critical realist study of organizations.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 30

Keywords: Bhaskar, critical realism, epistemology, Foucault; knowledge, methodology, ontology, post-structuralism, power, social reality

Accepted Paper Series